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Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Former Japanese soldiers tell hidden truth of 'Greater East Asia War'
Akahata 'Current' column (excerpts)

It is only half a month ago that the Japanese Communist Party Publication Bureau released a booklet entitled, "The Truth of 'Greater East Asia War' that Former Soldiers Testified."

This booklet is a compilation of confessions made by former soldiers of the Japanese Imperial Army. The confessions first appeared in Akahata in its series of 25 pieces in 2005 marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Former soldiers candidly spoke about what had actually taken place in the region where Japan invaded, showing the cruelty of the war that made them go out of their minds.

Memories of vivisection experiments, vigilance of special facilities where women were forced to serve as sex-slaves, bayonet training, and so forth were related. The testimonies include their own experiences of killing local people to plunder food when they were reduced to skin and bones.

In a phone call to place an order for the book, a man simply said, "I was in China, too." Impressed by a soldier's confession that he cannot forget the atrocities unless he goes insane, a woman wrote in her letter said, "My father died insane."

What was the reason that the former soldiers made public experiences that they don't want to remember? "We never want to kill or to be killed again." Isn't it true that their aspiration have found expression in the war-renouncing clause of Article 9?

Enthusiastic speeches at the Article 9 Association's exchange meeting held on June 10 reminded us of a former soldier's testimony:

"We must be aware that even today there is a possibility for Japanese to become devils. And I must add that any person can regain their human conscience."
- Akahata, June 13, 2006